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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of school attendance on learning and child labour in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses a nationally representative sample of household and individual data in 2005/06 and 2011/12 for the analysis. Regression discontinuity, the capitation grant in 2005 as exogenous, is used to estimate the impact of school attendance on child labour and learning outcomes.FindingsThe study found that children who were exposed to the capitation grant spent more hours in school and were more likely to enrol in primary school. School attendance was found to increase the likelihood to read and write a standardised test in English. Also, the improvement in children’s school attendance was found to enhance the likelihood of performing a written calculation. The authors could not find any evidence that school attendance affected child labour.Originality/valueThis research is the first causality analysis in sub-Saharan Africa that uses a nationally representative dataset to study the impact of school attendance on child labour and learning outcomes using a regression discontinuity estimator to deal with endogeneity issues.

PurposeThe prevalence of child labour continues to feature prominently on the agenda of many sub-Saharan African countries. The problem remains critical despite existing laws and other legislative instruments that have been put in place to address the situation. The purpose of this paper is to examine a critical consequence of child labour, that is, its effect on future earnings and occupational choice.Design/methodology/approachThe most recent round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey is used for this purpose. In addition to the Heckman model, the study employs propensity score and nearest neighbour matching techniques to account for the possible self-selection in engaging in child labour activities. Also, the multinomial logit model was employed to determine the choice of occupations of people who were engaged in child labour.FindingsResults indicate that early labour market entry significantly reduces future earnings, possibly due to lower human capital accumulation. These results remain robust with different estimators. Additionally, results from the second objective show that child labour increases the odds of choosing low-skilled occupations.Originality/valueIn Ghana, the negative consequences of child labour on educational attainment have been well documented. Less, if at all, studied are the long-term consequences of child labour, particularly on future economic status.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of family structure on child labor by comparing children of nuclear families headed by the father with children of single-mother families headed by the divorced mother. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses data from Brazilian urban areas provided by the Brazilian Demographic Census of 2010. The empirical approach consists of the estimation of three treatment effect models: the Average Treatment Effect, IV Treatment Effect and Two-Stage Estimator proposed by Lewbel (2012). Findings The main findings show that children of single-mother families headed by divorced mothers are more likely to work, compared to children living with both parents. This paper found evidence of a direct effect of family structure parents’ determinant on child participation in labor. The main hypothesis is that the absence of the father paired with exposure to family stress arising from marital dissolution is an indicator toward child labor. Practical implications This study implies that in order to combat child labor effectively, it is important to understand deeply its several causes and consider ruptures in family structure, such as divorce, as one of these factors. In addition, location and family’s characteristics also play a role on the decision of child labor. For instance, boys living at metropolis areas have less chance to work. Family’s head education and non-work income affects positively the child well-being by reducing the probability of child labor. On the other hand, the number of siblings increases the chance of child labor. Finally, the results of this study suggest policies to raise awareness among parents about the negative effects of child labor on children during both childhood and adulthood, and that social policies need to act beyond legislation and enforcement, but including family mobilization. Originality/value This paper estimates the impact of family structure on child labor using an empirical approach to deal with the endogeneity problem of the treatment.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine if child labour can have long-term consequences on children’s health status. Design/methodology/approach To capture this relationship, this paper uses the Brazilian National Household Survey (PNAD) conducted in 1998, 2003 and 2008, structured as a pseudo panel and estimated using a fractional response model. Findings The results show that child labour is negatively associated with child’s health status, and the longer the hours worked, the worse is the child’s health status. The authors also observe that hazardous labour had a three times higher negative effect on the child’s health and those who worked in service sectors are more prone to having a worse health status. Originality/value The study shows that different children’s occupations may have very different impacts on children’s health and indicates that despite the fact that Brazil has a strict law prohibiting child labour, the share of children working is still high and this work has a negative impact on child’s health.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of income shocks on household real consumption expenditure, taking into account the various informal coping strategies adopted by the households. Using Nigerian Household Panel Survey data for the year 2010/2011 and 2012/2013 respectively, and probit model estimation approach, the results suggest that idiosyncratic shocks have effect on household consumption expenditure and the informal insurance strategies play only limited roles in providing the needed insurance to households in the face of shocks. Also, the effect of shocks vary according to households characteristics, which depends on whether the household is headed by male or female and urban or rural dweller. Design/methodology/approach This paper explores the fixed effects and probit model estimation approach to examine the relationship between the effect of covariate and self-reported idiosyncratic shocks on household welfare. The study examines the effectiveness of the various informal coping measures adopted by households against shocks. Findings The results suggest that idiosyncratic shocks have been found to have little effect on real consumption expenditure and the informal insurance strategies play only limited roles in providing the much needed insurance to households in the face of shocks. Also, the effect of shocks vary according to households characteristics, whether the household is headed by male or female and urban or rural dweller is important. Originality/value The novelty of this essay is to investigate the relationship between variation in self-reported shocks to income across households and real consumption expenditure in Nigeria – a poor, risk-prone country – considering also, the ease with which households adopt the various risk-coping strategies, which help them in smoothing consumption over time.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of globalization and credit market imperfections on child labour. Design/methodology/approach Analysis is based on cross-country regression framework, incorporating 129 developing countries for the period 1970-2010. Findings The findings indicate that countries that are more open to trade and having higher foreign direct investment inflow have lower incidence of child labour. As child labour in export-related industries is hard to find, trade sanctions may not have a significant effect on child labour. Further study concludes that income of the bottom quartile of the population is the best representation of the income of the poor when studying child labour. Research limitations/implications The study uses the data compiled by International Labour Organization (ILO). Though much of the variation in the data is because of the adjustments made by ILO, this is the only comparable cross-country estimates available. Hence in the absence of the cross-country comparable estimates, many empirical studies have used this data set (e.g. Cigno et al., 2002; Dehejia and Gatti, 2002; Rogers and Swinnerton, 2001). This study acknowledges this limitation but again in the absence of any comparable estimates, the assessment is also based on this data set. Originality/value Study contributes in the literature by comparing the effect of export and trade and by exploring the effect of an alternate measure of the income, estimated by using Gini coefficient, on child labour. Further studies exploring the effect of globalization did not explore the presence of imperfect credit market, however, this study has explored the effect of credit market imperfections as well.

Purpose The Brazilian Government created the Bolsa Familia program to combat poverty and the insertion of so many children into the labor market. This program is an income transfer program subject to certain conditions such as a minimum school attendance for children under 17 years of age. In 2006, almost half of the people with an income per capita of R$300.00 (US$139.53) per month declared that they received this benefit. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of Bolsa Familia on child labor in Brazil in 2006. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a propensity score matching model with data from the National Household Sample Survey PESQUISA NACIONAL POR AMOSTRA DE DOMICÍLIOS (PNAD), for 2006. Findings Results indicate that the program increased the number of hours of child labor in Brazil. However, this outcome might be explained by the fact that those families who received Bolsa Familia were also those with higher socioeconomic vulnerability. Thus, they need to guarantee their survival with the income generated via child labor. Social implications The Brazilian Government needs to invest not only in monetary transfer policies but also in the improvement of the job market to create opportunities for the social development of children. Originality/value The contribution of the paper is the investigation into the effect of the Bolsa Familia program on the average time allocated to child labor; the authors find that this time allocation could be reduced by requiring a compulsory school attendance.

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to examine the linkages between child work and both school attendance and school attainment of children aged 5‐17 years using data from a survey based in rural Bangladesh.Design/methodology/approachThis paper first looks at school attendance as an indicator of a child's time input in schooling; then it measures the “schooling‐for‐age” as a learning achievement or schooling outcome using logistic regression models.FindingsThe results from this paper show that school attendance and grade attainment are lower for children who are working. The gender‐disaggregated estimates show that probability of grade attainment is lower for girls than that of boys. The results further reveal that child work has the highest impact on schooling of Bangladeshi children, followed by supply side correlates (presence of a school in the community), parental education and household income, respectively.Practical implicationsThe results obtained in this paper are of interest to policy makers seeking to design policies that increase school outcome and reduce child labor.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the limited empirical literature that has explored the impact of child work on schooling on Bangladesh by considering supply side correlates of schooling, and unpaid household work in modeling child labor.

PurposeThe objective of this paper is to understand better the determinants of child labour and schooling in Bangladesh.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses data from a survey based in rural Bangladesh and considers the children aged 5‐17 years living in rural households in which the mother and father are both present. The sample size is 1,628 children. A multinomial logit model is used to estimate the determinants of schooling and working, combining schooling and work, or doing nothing for 5‐17 years old children.FindingsThe results show that the education of parents significantly increases the probability that a school‐age child will specialise in study. The presence of very young children (aged 0‐4) in the household increases the likelihood that a school‐age child will combine study with work. The significant and positive gender coefficient suggests that girls are more likely than boys to combine schooling with work. The children who are sons and daughters of the household‐head, as opposed to being relatives living in the household are more likely to combine study and work but less likely to specialise in work.Originality/valueThe existing anti‐child labour policies mainly focus on the lowering of the demand for child labour in Bangladesh. The focus of this paper is, however, on the supply side of child labour, particularly on the use of child labour in the agricultural sector and the household sector where children are mainly employed by their parents. Unlike most of the existing studies on child labour, this paper considers housework and non‐market works in the definition of child labour.

PurposeThe objective is to determine the influence of economic and social/cultural factors on family size and child gender preferences in rural Kenya and to draw public policy implications from the results. This is an important matter because the fertility rate in Kenya is high; higher than in most developing countries. It is especially high in rural areas. This may be an impediment to Kenya's development.Design/methodology/approachFirst relevant economic literature is reviewed to identify factors that economists and others claim are important influences on family size. Then follows a case study of families in the Nyeri district of Kenya. Data are obtained from a random sample of households in this district using a semi‐structured questionnaire in direct interviews. The survey results are summarised and then analysed using Tobit analysis and least squares regression.FindingsBoth economic and social/cultural factors are found to be important influences on family size. For example, preference for male children has an important positive influence on family size in the Nyeri district. Women are found to prefer male offspring to daughters, possibly because they are afraid of being disinherited if they do not produce a male heir for their husbands.Research limitations/implicationsSupport for the conclusions reached could be strengthened or further assessed by increasing the sample size in the Nyeri district and be conducting similar surveys in other rural districts of Kenya.Practical implicationsIntroducing social security systems in Kenya to assist the elderly and the infirm would reduce the need for Kenyan women to have many children as security and women should be granted greater inheritance rights, especially to land. Furthermore, education of women should be promoted as a way to reduce family size.Originality/valueThis paper reinforces the view that both economic and social/cultural factors must be considered simultaneously when examining determinants of the number of children in a family and child gender preference.